2006-10-13

Free Speech, British Educational System-style

The British have some serious problems.

Schoolgirl arrested for refusing to study with non-English pupils who were speaking non-English language that she couldn't understand.

I can't wait to see how you rationalize this one Nadir.

2 comments:

Nadir said...

At face value, without knowing what the girl said (which isn't told in the story) this doesn't look like racism on her part. It looks like she had a legit beef.

If she called the kids "blacks" or some other derogatory name, or she made a racist comment, then she deserved a reprimand, but not arrest.

Need more info, but it doesn't sound like an arrest worthy act either way.

Paul Hue said...

Does the british legal system mandate a second language for all students? If so, what language does it tend to be?

I think that all schools, including govt schools, should mandate a second language for all students K-12. For kids that already speak a second language at home, I think schools should strive to make that language available as their second language. If schools get enough students who have the same second language at home, this could encourage the native kids to select that language as their second language, as it would be easy to practice with their immigrant classmates.

In the areas of the US where "bi-lingual" education has caused a problem (enabling immigrant kids to avoid learning English), I think the solution lies with mandating Spanish for the native kids K-12.